Articles of interest for the rebuilding of Iraq and its currency

Day: May 6, 2017

Twilight News / Health Minister announced in the government of the Kurdistan Region Recot Hama Rasheed on Saturday to impose taxes on cigarettes and alcoholic beverages soon after the completion of a proposal on this matter.

He said Hama Rashid told a news conference today, that in the near future will be finalized a proposal to impose taxes on cigarettes and alcoholic beverages, stressing that the financial returns for those taxes in the health sector will exploit Kurdistan province.

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[Where – special]
revealed the commander of the Second Elite Forces Lieutenant General Sami Arda, on Saturday, about changes taking place in special operations editing Mosul military plans.

He said Arda told all of Iraq [where] that ” the security forces follow the plans and Ssaliba new every military attack, as it began to rely on the victory and progress made by the troops during the storming of the area and edit.”
He noted that ” the security forces are close to victory until it began to adopt every liberated zone as aplatform for the launch of a new military operation and a new style.”
The anti – terrorism forces approached the completion of its military operations in the right side of the city ofMosul , where two thirds of the liberated neighborhoods assigned to it, and terrorist gangs had inflicted Daesh great human and material losses.

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A militiaman stands guard as a family returning to Iraq’s main Christian town Qaraqosh following its recapture from the Islamic State group makes a bonfire on May 5, 2017 of damaged furniture and rubbish that the jihadists left behind

Several plumes of smoke rise above Iraq’s main Christian town Qaraqosh, but this time it isn’t the Islamic State jihadist group burning crosses and churches.

Almost three years after fleeing the town, families are beginning to return and the first thing they do is burn old household items, a way of cleaning their homes and cleansing their bad memories.

“As you can see, we are burning our own clothes, our own furniture. We are burning our history,” said Milad Khodhr, 42, whose family is one of 17 who have returned to Qaraqosh.

“But we see no feeling of vengeance in these fires, we are peaceful… we are the real people of this country,” he said.

IS fighters swept through the Nineveh plain, east of Mosul, in August 2014 and forced around 120,000 of Iraq’s Christians to flee their homes, the biggest disaster to hit the minority in its nearly 2,000 year history.

Qaraqosh had a pre-IS population of around 50,000 and was emptied almost overnight.

Iraqi forces launched a major offensive to retake Mosul and surrounding areas in October last year and chased IS out of Qaraqosh a few days later.

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Iraq’s biggest church, was burnt and the reconstruction work that lies ahead in Qaraqosh is huge.

The families who have returned in recent days take out all the damaged furniture and rubbish that the jihadists who occupied and looted their homes left behind.

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A militiaman stands in a church in Iraq’s main Christian town Qaraqosh as returning families carried out cleanup on on May 5, 2017, following its recapture from the Islamic State group

With virtually no state services available and rubbish collection a distant prospect for the town, residents have no option but to burn their own refuse.

The religious authorities have stepped in to organise the return of Qaraqosh’s population, which many see as crucial to the long-term survival of the minority.

– Reconstruction –

“Some of the people of Qaraqosh have gone abroad, but more than half are still in Iraq. We have carried out a survey showing that 68 percent of them want to return,” Father George Jahula, who is helping returning families, told AFP in Qaraqosh.

“The rest are undecided,” he said.

In a symbolic gesture, the archbishop of Mosul, Yohanna Petros Mouche, was the first to move back to Qaraqosh in April, just before celebrating emotional Easter services in the town.

“The return depends on safety and how quickly the infrastructure is repaired,” Father Jahula said.

“In the absence of any help from the state for people to rebuild their homes, the church has stepped in,” said the clergyman, wearing a tracksuit to run around the town and organise his team of engineers.

The church and its volunteers have mapped the destruction in Qaraqosh using satellite images, allocated certain amounts for each sector and set completion targets.

“Since the available funding is limited, we have set up a list of those who want to return, and next week we will begin distributing money to start the reconstruction process,” said Zakariah Sabah, one of the organisers.

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A militiaman charged with protecting families returning to Iraq’s main Christian town Qaraqosh following its recapture from the Islamic State group surveys the damage to his uncle’s house on May 5, 2017

Qaraqosh still looks like a ghost town and access from the nearby Kurdish capital of Arbil — where many Christians found shelter in 2014 — is complicated by a gauntlet of checkpoints.

But for some of its displaced residents, return is the only option, whether the town is ready or not.

“Why did I return? Where else would I go? I have lived here all my life, 87 years,” said Najma Boutros, an old lady with a hunched back and sunken eyes.

“My daughter and I live alone, we came back because we couldn’t pay the rent anymore,” she said as she cleaned a sofa in the front yard of her house, which escaped unscathed from the flames that destroyed many of the neighbouring homes.

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NinevehNinewa Operations Command announced on Saturday the complete liberation of the Musheirfa area in Ayman Mosul.

The command said in a statement received by Alsumaria News, a copy of it, “The pieces of the 9th Armored Division liberated the first neighborhood of Musherafah and completed the liberation of the area of ​​Musheiref after the enemy suffered heavy losses of lives and equipment.”

“The Iraqi flag was raised above the neighborhood buildings and the continuation of a petition with the neighborhood of July 30 on the right coast of the city of Mosul.”

The commander of operations, “coming to Nineveh,” Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Yarallah announced, on Thursday (May 4, 2017), the start of the northern north coast of the city of Mosul.

{Baghdad} Euphrates News media war confirmed that the liberation of Nineveh is proceeding according to plan and that all its military units involved in perfect harmony.

A statement by the military cell media agency {Euphrates News} received a copy of it today , “picked up social networking pages wrong analyzes regarding military operations in the coming operations , O Nineveh.”
“The battle of liberation is proceeding according to plan and involving all the pieces in full harmony of the whole army and federal police cooperation and the fight against terrorism and the mobilization of my people and the people of the areas.”
“As the losses are within the expected and not as promoted by some of the lies ofaccounts known, as some have tried a failure to sign between the crowd and the security forces, and the world will witness the great victory of Iraq soon , God willing.”